"Audrey's Story" - January's Novel

During the month of January, I wrote my very first novel. 

Okay, it was only 16,000 words, so it wasn't quite a novel. More like a short-story or Novelette. 

My book is called "Audrey's Story". The synopsis for it is below!

 Audrey is a young teen who was abused at home. She attempts running away as an answer to her problems - however, she soon realizes that running away won't solve everything. She needs to turn to Jesus. On her journey away from home, she meets a teen who had the same trouble that she did - his parents abused him and his younger sister. The boy (Luke) was able to escape with his sister (Lacey), and they were safe for a few years. Luke then decided that they were 'in the clear', and that they could start living more normally again. However, once he finds out that Audrey is travelling by herself, he realizes that he should go with her. There are a lot of dangerous things out there, and he wouldn't want her to get hurt just because of his carelessness to let her go alone. Their escape is going well, until a run-in with the cops exposes their locations. The police not only recognizes Audrey as a runaway, but also Luke, from a previous time. They are chased by the police in a different scene, yet escape again to a hospital. The doctor there speaks on their behalf to the police, and Audrey and Luke are transferred to an orphanage, and then into foster care. Will Audrey and Luke ever see each other again?

I'm thinking of adding a chapter or so to the blog every so often to 'get it out there', so to say. 

Here's Chapter One of the Novelette!

Chapter One

“Audrey! Audrey, come back!” yelled Anna hysterically. Audrey didn’t stop . She knew from experience that no matter how much Anna seemed to want her to stay, she never was loved.

“AUDREY!!!!!!!!” her mother screeched at the top of her lungs. Audrey fought back tears, knowing that even though her mother and sister claimed that they loved her, they never really did. The fact that they were abusive only made their claims to love her worse.

Please help me, God! Prayed Audrey – harder than she had ever prayed before. She heard footsteps pounding behind her, growing louder as her mother and sister became closer. Pushing forward with all of her might, Audrey broke ahead of her mother and sister by several yards. Panting, her mother and Anna began to slow, and eventually they turned back towards the old, mossy house. Audrey’s ankles and feet began to burn under the constant pressure of running, even though the ground was coated with soft grass. She hardly remembered a time when she wasn’t trying to escape from her family, though.

After what felt like forever, Audrey reached her planned stopping point. A sliver of a map that she had found in the trash can helped Audrey to plot her first stop, but, after here, she had no idea where to go. Since her mother, Melinda, didn’t allow Audrey out of the house much, she wouldn’t be recognized much – hopefully. With Audrey’s luck, however, she would be found right away. Stepping inside of an old hollow tree, Audrey paused long enough to catch her breath – it would look less obvious that she was a runaway if she wasn’t panting. She straightened her dress, finger-combed her hair back into its braid, and took several deep breaths. Sending up a quick prayer of thanks, Audrey left the tree and headed into the small town. She gazed around the little village area, taking in all of the sights and smells and sounds. It was obvious that the people here weren’t extremely rich – most of the buildings were in a bad condition; looking as if they had seen better days. There were all sorts of animals milling around - cows munching on the pale green grass, horses greedily eating apples from their owners. Vendors had lined the sides of the dirt road with their carts, yelling that they had everything from beads to zebra-skin coats. Children ran around laughing, playing tag with one another, and hide-and-go-seek. If only life at home were this peaceful, she thought Quickly, Audrey shook the idea from her mind – no use moping about what wasn’t real.

“May I help you, miss?” asked a large, portly shopkeeper.

“Can you point me in the direction of the nearest campground?” Audrey questioned. She had previously thought of staying in a cheap inn, but decided against it for safety reasons. That would probably be the first place that the police would check, and besides, she needed to save the small amount of money that she had for food – if she didn’t lose it first, that is.

“Campin’? You? All alone?” the shopkeeper shook his head and laughed. “Walk straight for about a mile or so, and you’ll be in the next town. Hopefully they will be able to give you more help then I can.” He laughed again, but he looked a bit concerned. Audrey thanked him and prepared herself for the long walk.

“Wait, miss. Before you go, let me get you some provisions. A girl as youn’as you shouldn’t be on her own without the necessities. In fact, you shouldn’t be on your own at all, but it isn’t my choice to tell ya so.” He smiled at her, and motioned for Audrey to follow him into his store. He pulled out a large drawstring burlap bag; nearly as large as she was. “You put your food and water supplies in here and then roll up the extra space. Pull it closed and you can wear it over your shoulder to make carryin’ it easier. Then at night you unroll it and use it as a blanket.” Now he was walking towards a section of food. It looked mouth-watering to Audrey, as she hadn’t ate in a few days. Her mother and sister didn’t see it fit for her to consume the food that she herself had cooked. The shopkeeper began to fill the bag with a small loaf of bread, a few red apples, and some cheese wrapped in cloth. “That should last you at least until the next town. When you get there, ask for Mister Doug. Tell him that Jim sent you; he’ll know what that means.” By now Audrey’s new bag was beginning to look rather heavy, but she was glad for the bag and the food. The final gift from Jim was a large canteen, filled with cold water. He placed that in the sack as well, and then rolled the bag up and pulled it closed. He placed it gently onto Audrey’s back.

“Thank you so much, uh, Mr. Jim. You don’t know just how much this means to me,” Audrey felt tears threatening to spill over again.

“Not a problem,” he replied, heading back into his shop. He nodded his head at her, and Audrey began the long walk into the next town.

I'd love to hear any feedback on the first chapter!

Thanks!

-Lizzie